Archive for December 2012

When the uncapped potential of a student meets the liberating art of a teacher, a miracle unfolds. Mary Hatwood Fulrell

The holiday season is often a season of miracles, small and big, private and public. And even during the holidays, teachers are always thinking about their students. They are gathering ideas from items they run across while focusing on their own families and friends as well as stealing a little time to peruse one of the many books that is part of a permanent pile next to the bed. Or they might take a peek at all the resources on the Internet while baking batches of cookies. Teacher never really stop working because the thrill of seeing their students succeed is all worth all the time, work, and effort they put into their teaching.

With that said, effective teachers find teaching materials that they can easily adapt and implement in their own classrooms. If you’re thinking about starting a unit in January around The Hunger Games, check out the lesson plans we created with teachers and students in mind.

A good society also helps each of us fulfill the full bloom of our uniqueness. It honors our individual gifts and encourages our particular callings. It gives all its inhabitants the economic, emotional, and spiritual support needed to follow their dreams. An unjust one, in contrast, starves hopes, aspirations, and possibilities. It stunts lives and potentials. –Paul Rogut Loeb

Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task. –Hain G. Ginott

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less. –Lee Iococca

Reflecting on the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I am reminded of the courage of teachers and their willingness to sacrifice their own lives for the children they teach. And this sacrifice is intertwined in their professional and personal lives. Teachers give so that students have opportunities to use their gifts and to converge with their callings. Sometimes, sadly, teachers literally give up their lives for their students, as witnessed in Newtown, Connecticut.

What can we do as a society to stop violence that robs our society of individuals whose hopes, aspirations, and possibilities never come to fruition—never knowing what they could have done? One approach is to make education a priority so that teachers can create a sense of community in their classrooms and in their schools so that every student finds the support necessary to follow their dreams. Budgets cannot dictate class size, professional development, or student-centered education. Teachers continue to accomplish impossible tasks with inadequate tools—think what education might be like if teachers were respected for what they do in our society and were given the economic, emotional, and spiritual support they need to fulfill their dreams of reaching every child. For those of us who teach, we know it is the best profession in the world—that’s why we’re willing to give so much.

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Our life work is focused on providing students with the best education that is available and making teaching and learning fun and exciting. In doing so, we have all taught in all grades, K-12 in social studies, language arts, literacy, and instructional technology. Our professional lives intersected in teacher education and professional development. We have worked with preservice and inservice teachers, bringing to them best practice. We are teachers, professors, and researchers who desire to create teacher materials that are easy to implement for teachers and engaging for students.